Exchange for Change: Tales of an Obruni: No rest for the busy

Tuesday was another long and busy day. I took patients with Oppong in the morning and then I went on rounds with Dr. Boadum. There were two interesting cases on rounds. One was a diabetic woman who came in on Friday. Today, after being in the ward for nearly 5 days, the doctor noticed that she had a stroke. I was surprised that it had not been realized before. The stroke occurred nearly 3 years ago and she has not had a CT yet. She had gone to an herbalist and he had been giving her medicine that helped her regain some strength on her left side. Dr. Boadum made a comment about how Ghana's biggest source of poverty is a lack of knowledge. The second interesting case came from the male ward. An old man, whom I saw on rounds yesterday, has characteristic signs of Parkinsons. His hands have tremors, his wrists have rigid movement, and he had the characteristic gait. Dr. Boadum was saying that in the US, that would be diagnosed as Parkinsons, but in Ghana, it is rarely ever diagnosed. Yesterday, Dr. Senya made a comment about how in the US, medicine is more laboratory based whereas medicine in Ghana is more clinically based. As I spend more time in the hospital, I notice more differences between the diagnosing and treatment of different illnesses. Additionally, communicating can be very difficult. Many of the patients either don't understand me or cannot hear me. A Liberian family got frustrated with me and asked Oppong to talk in English with them. He laughed and said that I was speaking English to them and could understand them, so why couldn't they understand me. Some of it is the phrasing-do you have a fever vs. does your skin get hot. Other times, it is just difficult to understand one another because of accents. It is going to take a lot of time. Also, the crying child at the sight of an Obruni count is up to three. I think I'm doing pretty well. The little child running into the street singing Obruni count is way higher, so I'll take that as a plus.

I took a taxi home today, which was the first time Eric did not come to pick me up. It was an interesting experience and I made it home safely. Eric talked to me yesterday about going to other hospitals in the area to see how they are run. I also asked him about talking to other NGOs to see how they function. Thus far, I have gotten great information about healthcare in Ghana, which will be useful in my report. The only thing I am certain of, however, is that these days are exhausting. I want to curl up in my corner and nap, but instead, I have to keep pushing through the tiredness and "do good work."